DERF Happy Hour

America’s Migrant workers embrace 'Leave Your Child at Home Day'.

TEXAS - Accustomed to the grueling regimen of 18 hour work days in the scorching sun, America’s migrant workers often face the additional challenge of working everyday alongside their children in the field. Migrant workers across the United States say nothing hurts worker productivity more than a pack of selfish children bothering their parents at work.

Many migrant workers are required to meet a strictly enforced volume quota in order to get paid. Ricardo Guttierez, President of the Migrant Worker's Association, says it is almost impossible for a worker to pick 75 bushels of tomatoes per day with 7 or 8 nagging children in tow.

Exhausted by the daily distraction of supervising his selfish children while trying to earn a living, Jose Alvarez, a tomato picker in Almeda, Texas, strives to organize the first "Leave Your Child at Home Day". Alvarez, who also picks blueberries in the off season, hopes migrant workers across the country will embrace the opportunity to free themselves from the intense burden of children in the workplace. Alvarez commented, "We all deserve the opportunities to meet our daily quotas without crying babies everywhere."

Alvarez concedes that children over age 6 should of course stay in the fields because they are a vital part of the production process. "A well trained six year old can fill about 30 bushels a day if they don't take too many breaks. If they can keep quiet while doing it then it's a win-win for everyone."